Asian shares faced another leg lower on Wednesday as the coronavirus sharply slows global growth, leading a gauge of world stocks to post its biggest quarterly decline in more than a decade and oil prices to trade near lows last seen in 2002.

Shares on Wall Street tumbled on Tuesday, with the Dow registering its biggest quarterly fall since 1987 and the S&P 500 its steepest quarterly drop since a decade ago on growing evidence of the massive downturn the pandemic will incur.

E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 traded 1 per cent lower in after-hours trade, while Asian futures suggested the rout would continue.

FTSE China A50 futures in Singapore were down 0.85 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.86 per cent in early trade.

The first-quarter decline was the biggest on record for the S&P 500 as consumers hunkered down at home, leading businesses to announce massive staff furloughs and to shut temporarily.

US economic activity is likely to be very bad and the unemployment rate could rise above 10% because of efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Loretta Mester told CNBC.

The United States marked 700 deaths in a single day from Covid-19 for the first time on Tuesday, lifting total US fatalities from the disease to more than 3,700.

The number of coronavirus infections globally headed toward 800,000. Deutsche Bank analysts noted, however, that for two consecutive days the global growth in new cases was below 10 per cent, having exceeded that rate for most of the past two weeks.

Health officials were much more cautious. A World Health Organization official warned that even in the Asia-Pacific region, the epidemic was “far from over.”

The dollar slid against a basket of currencies, pressured by the latest Federal Reserve measures to ensure sufficient liquidity in the global financial system.

The Fed is now allowing foreign central banks to exchange their holdings of US Treasury securities for overnight dollar loans.

The dollar index fell 0.275 per cent while the Japanese yen strengthened 0.12 per cent versus the greenback at 107.44 per dollar.

Government bond yields held steady as investors remained cautious about buying riskier assets.

The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note rose 15/32 in price to yield 0.6538 per cent.

Crude oil benchmarks ended a volatile quarter with their biggest losses in history, with both US and Brent futures hammered throughout March due to the pandemic and the eruption of the Saudi-Russia price war.

Global fuel demand has been sharply cut by travel restrictions due to the coronavirus. Forecasters at major merchants and banks see demand slumping by 20 per cent to 30 per cent in April, and for weak consumption to linger for months.

Crude futures ended the quarter down nearly 70 per cent after record losses in March.

US crude fell 31 cents to $20.17 a barrel and May Brent crude futures ended 2 cents lower at $22.74 a barrel ahead of expiration.

Read | Is coronavirus situation in India less severe than other countries?

Also read | Challenge to fighting coronavirus in India: 36% wash hands with soap before a meal

TL

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT

Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.